Extruder for producing molten plastic materials

ABSTRACT

The invention concerns an extruder for producing molted plastic materials from plastic granules available on the market, by heating and mixing granules, with heated single- or double-screw extruders, and for carrying out polycondensation or polymerization using part of a multiple-screw extruder and by means of vacuum chambers for removing the constituents of low molecular weight and/or foaming agents or the like, for obtaining larger molecules and hence a higher viscosity, and for increasing the mechanical strength of plastic materials produced from said molten material. The invention aims at designing said extruder such that the molten material can be processed in thin layers enabling exposure of large surfaces in contact with the vacuum, and hence a molten plastic material ensuring desired levels of degassing and polymerization using simple means. Therefor, the envelopes of the stems of the screws ( 7 ) are mutually spaced apart at least in the polycondensation zone of said extruder part with multiple screws ( 6 ), relative to the extruder screw ( 4 ) or its shaft section ( 10 ) and relative to cylindrical zones enclosing them, by a distance not less than zero (&gt; 0 ).

The invention concerns an extruder for producing melts from commercially available granulated plastics by heating and milling the granules by means of heated single-screw or twin-screw extruders, for carrying out condensation polymerization or polymerization by using a section of the extruder that is designed as a multi-screw extruder, with the use of evacuated chambers for removing low-molecular-weight constituents and/or blowing agents or the like, for obtaining larger molecules and thus higher viscosities, and for increasing the mechanical strength of the plastic produced from the melt.

Commercial granulated plastics can be processed into melts in a single-screw extruder, which is suitable, for example, for the injection of plastic articles, but is also suitable for drawing filaments. However, thin plastic sheets require a tougher and stronger raw material to allow their further processing. In this regard, it is known that the single-screw extruder can be connected to venting devices, as described, for example, in the prior-art document EP 0 588 998 A1, in which raw materials of this type can be produced by passing the plastic melt through evacuated chambers. The removal of low-molecular-weight constituents, such as glycol or the like, can be accomplished here by prolonged residence times of thin layers of melt in evacuated chambers. Similar venting units are disclosed, for example, in DE 100 20 646 C1 and DE 40 01 986. Of course, in the systems described here, the disadvantages of the relatively complicated design of the assemblies with intermeshing shafts are readily apparent, as are the disadvantages associated with the relatively high production cost of the extruder and the venting unit.

Therefore, the objective of the present invention is to develop an extruder that costs a reasonable amount to produce and has a comparatively simple design, which makes it possible to process the melt in thin layers that expose a large contact surface to the vacuum and thus to produce a plastic melt by simple means that allow degassing and polymerization to the extent desired.

This objective is achieved by means of the features. specified in claim 1. The screws can be driven at variable speeds to produce optimum conveying speeds by virtue of the fact that the envelopes of the screw shafts are spaced apart from each other and from parts that surround them by a distance ≧0, i.e., by virtue of the fact that the screw shafts do not mesh with each other or with the extruder screw or its shaft section or with the cylindrical zones surrounding them. The fact that is essential to the conveyance of the melt is that relative motion occurs between the screw shafts themselves and/or between the screw shafts and the barrel and/or between the screw shafts and the extruder screw or its shaft section.

In addition, neither the shafts nor the barrel requires as much expensive machining, which results in advantages with respect to the cost of producing the extruder. Furthermore, due to the absence of toothing, more free surface is made available between the screw shafts themselves and between the screw shafts and the surrounding barrel and parts of the extruder screw, so that impurities in the melt, which can cause damage to the multi-screw extruder section in the case of intermeshing shafts and possibly shafts that mesh with the barrel, can also be processed here without any problems and without causing damage and excessive wear.

Another advantage is that, due to the fact that no meshing occurs, the screws can have different leads, and this fact can be used to influence the residence times in the multi-screw extruder section and the conveyance speeds.

It was found to be advantageous to design the multi-screw extruder section according to the features of claim 2. This allows trouble-free driving of the screw shafts of the multi-screw extruder section by the extruder screw or its shaft section. This means that only one drive is necessary for the plastication unit and for the multi-screw extruder section.

If, as proposed in claim 3, the screw shafts are mounted in a guide, the guide can be mounted in such a way that it is stationary relative to the casing, so that only the screw shafts rotate in the guide. However, it is also possible for the guide to be supported in the casing itself, so that the screw shafts rotate in the guide, and the guide itself can rotate in the casing 5.

However, it is also advantageous if the guide is rigidly connected with the shaft section, and the gear wheels mounted at the ends of the toothed shafts run in gear rims of the casing.

In accordance with claim 6, another possibility is for the journals of the screw shafts to mesh not only with the ring gear, but also with a gear rim. This allows the toothed shafts to rotate about their own axes and additionally to rotate about the shaft section.

If different ring gears and/or gear rims are provided in the multi-screw extruder section, then different screw shafts can be driven at different speeds, depending on the gear ratios. Of course, another possibility consists in assigning a variable-speed motor to each gear rim to allow the screw shafts to be rotationally driven at variable speeds.

Other advantageous and recommended refinements are disclosed in secondary claims 12 to 17.

The invention is explained below with reference to the embodiments of screw extruders illustrated in the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a combined single-screw and multi-screw extruder with the shaft regions shown in broken view.

FIG. 2 shows a cross section of the extruder in FIG. 1 at the section of the extruder that is designed as a multi-screw extruder.

FIG. 3 shows the cross section of the section of the extruder that is designed as a multi-screw extruder in accordance with a second version.

FIG. 4 shows the cross section of the section of the extruder that is designed as a multi-screw extruder in accordance with a third version.

FIG. 1 shows an extruder 1, the barrel 2 of which is provided with an additional feed channel 3 for metering in any possible additives. The extruder 1 has an extruder screw 4, which is driven by drive mechanisms (not shown) at the right end, which is shown in broken view. The casing 5 of a section 6 of the extruder that is designed as a multi-screw extruder is joined to the barrel 2, or the barrel 2 makes a stepped transition into the casing 5 of a section 6 of the extruder that is designed as a multi-screw extruder. In the multi-screw extruder section 6, several (ten in the present embodiment, see FIG. 2) screw shafts 7 arranged parallel to the axis are provided, each of which is provided with toothed journals 8 at each end. Each of these screw shafts meshes with internal teeth of the casing 5. In the present embodiment (FIG. 1), an internally toothed gear rim 9 or similar guide structure that provides support is inserted or mounted in the casing 5 at both ends or is formed as a single piece with it. The extruder screw 4 passes through the casing 5 with a shaft section 10, on which ring gears 11 with external teeth are rigidly mounted at both ends to prevent them from rotating. As FIG. 1 shows, the shaft section 10 may be cylindrically designed. However, it is always possible to provide a helical design here for advancing the melt axially. The casing 5 is provided with a vacuum channel 12, which is connected to a vacuum pump (not shown), e.g., a Gaede mercury pump or a diffusion pump.

The casing 5 is closed at the delivery end by a terminal section 13, through which the terminal section of the extruder screw 4 passes.

The screw shafts 7 reach, or their threads are tangent to, the surface of the cylindrically formed shaft section 10 or the outer surface (envelope) of a helically designed shaft section 10.

The following manner of operation is achieved in this way:

When the extruder screw 4 is driven, granulated plastic fed in through the feed channel 3 is picked up, melted, for example, on the heated wall of the barrel 2, and moved by the screw threads of the driven extruder screw 4 towards and into the annular multi-screw extruder section 6. The design of the extruder screw 4 conforms to an extruder screw adapted to the raw material to be processed, such that in FIG. 1, as one possible embodiment, the lead of the screw threads decreases towards the multi-screw extruder section 6 and thus, on the one hand, conforms to the decreasing volume during melting, but, on the other hand, makes available the working pressure required from the multi-screw extruder section 6. In the multi-screw extruder section 6 itself, the screw shafts 7 with their toothed journals 8 are driven by the two ring gears 11, which are rigidly connected with the shaft section 10 of the extruder screw 4 to prevent them from rotating. Furthermore, the toothed journals 8 engage the stationary gear rims 9, so that the screw shafts 7 rotate not only about their own axes, but also about the axis of the shaft section 10 of the extruder screw 4. The rotating screw shafts 7 run with their screw crests approximately tangent to the shaft section 10 of the extruder screw 4, and the melt, which has been thoroughly milled until it is thin, is able to release gases into the evacuated space surrounded by the casing, which are then removed through the vacuum channel 12 by a pump.

In accordance with the alternative illustrated in FIG. 3, to keep the melt passing through the multi-screw extruder section 6 as thin-walled as possible, the screw shafts 7 are held in the clearances 14 of guides 15. The clearances 14 are adapted to the peripheral shape of the screw shafts 7, so that here the layer of melt is kept as thin-walled as possible. The screw shafts 7 in FIG. 3 do not mesh with gear rims 9, but rather are held in the stationary guides 15 in such a way that they can rotate only about their own axes.

FIG. 4 shows a multi-screw extruder section 6′ equipped with nine screw shafts 7. The screw shafts 7′ are supported in a guide 15′, which is rigidly connected with the shaft section 10′ by a spline 16 to prevent it from rotating.

The toothed journals of the screw shafts 7′ engage a gear rim 9′, which is mounted on the casing 5′. Rotational motion of the shaft section 10′ causes the guide 15′ to rotate as well. The screw shafts 7′, which are supported in the guide 15′, run on the gear rim 9′, so that they not only rotate about the shaft section 10′, but also are caused to rotate about their own axes.

If different gear rims 9′ are provided here (not shown), which mesh with different toothed journals, then, depending on the gear ratios, different speeds of the screw shafts 7′ can be realized.

The terminal section of the extruder screw 4 continues beyond the delivery end of the annular multi-screw extruder section 6. Here too, a relatively high lead of the screw threads is provided at first, which flattens out towards the free end due to the increasing core diameter.

List of Reference Numbers

-   1 extruder -   2 barrel -   3 feed channel -   4 extruder screw -   5 casing -   6 multi-screw extruder section -   7 screw shafts -   8 toothed journals -   9 gear rim -   10 shaft section -   11 ring gears -   12 vacuum channel -   13 terminal section -   14 clearances -   15 guide -   16 spline 

1. Extruder for producing melts from commercially available granulated plastics by heating and milling the granules by means of heated single-screw or twin-screw extruders, for carrying out condensation polymerization or polymerization by using a section (6) of the extruder that is designed as a multi-screw extruder, with the use of evacuated chambers for removing low-molecular-weight constituents and/or blowing agents or the like, for obtaining larger molecules and thus higher viscosities, and for increasing the mechanical strength of the plastic produced from the melt, wherein, at least in the polycondensation zone of the multi-screw extruder section (6), the envelopes of the screw shafts (7) are spaced apart from each other, from the extruder screw (4) and its shaft section (10), and from the cylindrical zones surrounding them by a distance that is greater than or equal to zero (³ 0).
 2. Extruder in accordance with claim 1, wherein at least two screw shafts (7), which form the multi-screw extruder section (6) and are arranged parallel to the axis, move with rolling contact on the shaft section (10), such that each screw shaft (7) has at least one journal (8) designed as a gear wheel, which engages at least one ring gear (11), which is rigidly connected with the shaft section (10) of the central extruder screw (4) to prevent it from rotating.
 3. Extruder in accordance with claim 2, wherein the screw shafts (7) are held in the clearances (14) of at least one guide (15), which is mounted on or supported in the casing (5) of the multi-screw extruder section (6).
 4. Extruder in accordance with claim 1, wherein a guide (15′) is rigidly mounted on the shaft section (10′) to prevent it from rotating, and that the screw shafts (7′) are supported in the clearances (14′) of the guide (15′) and have journals (8′), which are designed as gear wheels and engage at least one gear rim (9′), which is connected to the casing (5).
 5. Extruder in accordance with claim 3, wherein the clearances (14, 14′) are designed in such a way that the guide(s) (15, 15′) surround the envelope of the screw shafts (7, 7′) at a small distance.
 6. Extruder in accordance with claim 2, wherein the screw shafts (7) are designed at both ends as toothed journals (8), and that each side of the toothed journals (8), together with the corresponding additional toothed journals (8), are surrounded by a gear rim (9) or similar support part, which provides the support.
 7. Extruder in accordance with claim 4, wherein the gear rims (9, 9′) are connected to the casing (5) of the multi-screw extruder section (6), or their teeth are incorporated in the casing (5).
 8. Extruder in accordance with claim 2, wherein the journals (8, 8′), which are designed as gear wheels, of different screw shafts (7, 7′) engage different ring gears (11) and/or gear rims (9, 9′).
 9. Extruder in accordance with claim 8, wherein the different ring gears (11) and/or gear rims (9, 9′) have different gear ratios with the journals (8, 8′) designed as gear wheels.
 10. Extruder in accordance with claim 8, wherein a different ring gear (11) and/or gear rim (9, 9′) is provided for each screw shaft (7, 7′).
 11. Extruder in accordance with claim 8, wherein the different gear rims (9, 9′) are rotatably supported in the casing (5) and can be driven by motors.
 12. Extruder in accordance with claim 1, wherein the casing (5) of the multi-screw extruder section (6) is provided with a vacuum channel (12) for connection to a vacuum pump.
 13. Extruder in accordance with claim 1, wherein the shaft section (10) is cylindrical in shape.
 14. Extruder in accordance with claim 1, wherein the shaft section (10) has at least one helix, by which the melt can be axially conveyed in or against the direction of advance of the extruder screw (4).
 15. Extruder in accordance with claim 14, wherein the ring gears (11) are formed by the helix.
 16. Extruder in accordance with claim 2, wherein the teeth between the toothed journals (8) and the gear rims (9, 9′) or the ring gears (11) are designed as straight and/or as oblique teeth.
 17. Extruder in accordance with claim 2, wherein the screws of the screw shafts (7, 7′) have different leads. 